Home alone: Day 6

Everyone seemed to be on the move early today — probably to beat the forecast rain.  As I got ready to go at 8.45 a boat came past, and then just as I was setting I had to wait for another to come through the bridge.  Before the junction, I passed three more.  There was going to be quite a queue at Cholmondeston Lock at 9am on a Sunday!  It was actually brighter than I expected, and the light just after I’d turned out of the junction was quite attractive.

I was aiming for either set of moorings by Hurleston Junction.  The northern ones had a couple of boats on them, but one seemed to be making moves to leave.  I crept forward, and could see through the bridge that the south moorings were full.  So I reversed back into the spot the other boat had just left.  The shelf under the water means were so far out from the bank that even our tyres would be useless — but I’ve put a fender on a very long rope between the shelf and our baseplate, to reduce the scraping.

Adrian arrived back in the car about 12.30, so I walked up the locks to meet him.  We had lunch and then headed out in the car to get some food in, and drop off a parcel.  After we’d brought our shopping back, we took the car back to its hiding place — so we’ve walked up and down the locks numerous times.  It’s been raining most of the afternoon, but not particularly heavily.

2 miles, 0 locks.  (19 miles, 0 locks)

Home alone: Day 5

I liked the mooring at Calveley, and it’s clearly popular with the boats that hang around this area because many of them were there.  It’s true the railway line is quite close, but there are only three or four trains an hour.  Last night at around midnight there were voices outside, a man saying to a woman, ‘we’ve only got to walk a bit further to get to the boat — get up and stop lying on the ground!’  Then a few minutes later a couple of runners pounded by.

This morning was grey again but felt a bit more chilly.  I set off around 9, through the bridge to the services where I set the washing machine going (having got the bedding dry yesterday in front of the stove), filled with water, and got rid of rubbish and recycling.  When I was on the move again I went fairly slowly, as the washing machine still had a bit of time to go, and I wanted to get some battery charging done too.  I decided I’d head along the start of the Middlewich Arm again; it meant I could complete the set of turns here, coming from the north and turning in.

When I got to the winding hole above Cholmondeston Lock I turned around and moored up between there and Bridge 4.  I had the whole length to choose from, so I’m a couple of boat lengths further along than I was on Wednesday.  The hedges appear to have been cut since then too, from the field side.

I walked along to Venetian Marina, partly to do some steps and partly for a bag of logs to top up supplies.  I’ve finished the podcast episode I started yesterday, and have scheduled it.  I suspect I’ll get wet tomorrow, and in fact the forecast seems to be rain for pretty much every day for the rest of the month.

3 miles, 0 locks.  (17 miles, 0 locks)

Home alone: Day 4

As you may have noticed, I'm pottering about in a relatively small area while Adrian is away -- but each journey being quite short does pose its problems.  The batteries need charging which requires engine running, and I also have various loads of washing to do, which needs the engine and the Travel Power on -- but doesn't charge the batteries.  Today I decided to start the washing machine where I was, then when I was ready to go I calculated when it would be finished and I could switch to battery charging.

I set off north again, doing this same section of canal between Hurleston Junction and Barbridge Junction for the third day in a row.  Now there are fewer leaves on the trees though, you can see more -- such as the observatory at the end of a garden near Bridge 100.

When I got to Barbridge, I carried straight on.

I'm not sure what the purpose of the 'Welcome to the Shropshire Union Canal' sign is.  If you're going by, you're already on it; if you're turning, you're leaving the mainline and going onto the Middlewich Branch; and if you're coming off the Middlewich, it'll be behind you and you won't see it.  Maybe it's mostly for drivers on the A51.

I might have stopped for water at Calveley Services, but there were already two boats there, so I carried on.  I continued to the winding hole above Bunbury Locks, turned around, and headed back to the moorings by Bridge 104.

Right next to the boat is a gate and a footpath across the fields.

I decided to treat myself to lunch at the cafe at the cheese shop, so walked over the bridge.  By there is a new barn conversion which looks rather smart.

After you cross the canal, there's another bridge over the railway line, and there are also new houses there.

Lunch at the cafe was ok, but quite expensive.  I was out of cheese, so I bought some in the shop there; I worked out that it's actually cheaper to buy the smaller packs rather than the large ones, even before their '4 for £7' offer is applied.  This afternoon, I've been working on another podcast episode.  I've also had the fire going in the hopes of drying today's wash load of bedding so I can get the towels done tomorrow.

4 miles, 0 locks.  (14 miles, 0 locks)

Home alone: Day 3

Another busy day.  The last few times we’ve got a gas bottle, I’ve been a bit concerned about the state of the gas locker floor.  There are vents at floor level to allow any escaped gas to get out, but this means that if you’re going up in locks, water gets inside.  So this morning first thing I got the gas bottles out, and set about trying to get the loose rust out.  The hatch is too small to get into, so I set up the plank so I could lay on it, with my head and arms inside the locker.

Using a wire brush and the coal shovel, I loosened and got out a load of rusty bits.  Then I got a roller out and applied Fertan to treat the rusty surface.  This takes at least 24 hours to dry and get to work, which is why I wanted to get it done first thing.

Then I thought I’d set off, heading back to Barbridge Junction and turning south.  The people who live by Bridge 100 were gardening when we came past a couple of weeks ago, and the whole place now looks really neat.

I’d planned to stop on the moorings just north of Hurleston Junction, but they were full and I know the bits at either end have an even worse shelf under the water than the moorings themselves.  So I carried on to the Henhull winding hole, turned around, and returned to moor just south of Hurleston, where we were the other day.  I’d have had to run the engine a bit longer for battery charging anyway, so a bit of extra travel was no issue.  There was loads of room, and the rings seem better spaced at the far end so I have properly reversed ropes which stops the boat swinging about so much.  There’s the shelf of course, so the tyres are deployed.  As it was coming in to moor, there was a bang and the tiller started juddering.  Of course the day after an oil change, I wondered if I’d forgotten to do something and the engine was complaining.  But once I’d moored up I checked the weedhatch, in case there was something round the prop.  It was clear — but then I noticed several bits of orange plastic floating about near the boat, which I fished out.  Had they once been a cone?  Anyway, I’m hoping that was on the prop and that’s all the problem was.

As the boat is the best part of a foot out from the bank, I thought this was the ideal time to touch up the gunwales, so I got the black paint and a roller out and did this side.  It looks pretty good (from a distance!)

After lunch, I walked down to Nantwich to pick up my parcel from a locker, so I’ve more than done my steps today.  It’s annoying not being able to put the kettle on!  I’ve had the gas locker lid open all day to try to help the drying process, but it’s not quick particularly at these temperatures.  I will have to put the gas bottles back in later though, because I do want to eat.

4 miles, 0 locks.  (10 miles, 0 locks)

Home alone: Day 2

I’ve been waiting for a parcel to be delivered to a collection point, and had been hoping it would arrive yesterday.  Of course it didn’t, but was due today — but only before the ‘end of day’.  As I had things to do, I decided to head off anyway, and I’d deal with picking it up tomorrow.  It was very grey and still again today, and I set off at 8.45, heading across the aqueduct to the water point.

Here I filled the tank, got the washing machine on, and dealt with rubbish and a load of recycling.  I also made some tea ready for when I could set off again.  I’d decided to head up to the moorings before Cholmondeston Lock.  This was partly to give the batteries a decent charge, and also because I needed to do an oil change and had run out of paper towels; I knew they had them at Chamberlain’s Chandlers.  On the way, I passed a hire boat from Stone — not normally an uncommon sight, but they’ve been very scarce over this side this year because of the Cheshire Locks on the Trent and Mersey being closed by water shortages.  They’ve now reopened, so I wondered whether this boat was doing the Four Counties Ring, which had been out of action for much of the season.

There were big flocks of geese flying around and making a racket by the junction, and a vast length of the fence on the reservoir embankment was occupied by gulls.  This was only about a third of them.

There were more bird-related sightings once I’d turned onto the Middlewich Arm.  By one of the bridges was a lovely jay, although he didn’t stay still long enough for a photo.  And then just after I’d moored, I was sorting ropes out when a small bird of prey flew low along the towpath between the boat and the hedge before swooping up into a tree.

I turned at the winding hole after Bridge 4, but the official moorings were much fuller than last time we were here, so I didn’t fancy the reverse to a space.  But a boat had just left a decent spot between the winding hole and the bridge, so I went there.  Once tied up, I walked along to the chandlery to get the paper towels, then had lunch back on board, and started the oil change.  It’s always difficult to know how long to leave the engine before starting: you want the oil warm enough to still be loose, but not too hot.  This time I had a bit of a struggle to get the old oil filter off, but it turned in the end.  I had a look at the air filter and decided it had been turned enough and a new one would be a good idea.  And I decided to change the gearbox oil too, as it’s been a little while.  Getting the old oil out is a pain.  There’s a nut to release on the bottom, but if you put an ice cream tub or similar underneath to catch the oil, thee’s not enough room to get it out again.  So I cut a hole in a plastic water bottle, put that underneath, and hoped the hole was approximately under the nut.  I also always forget that there’s more oil in the gearbox than the spec says, because there’s extra for the cooling system, so I had to quickly put the nut back in when the bottle was nearly full, and then repeat the process.  I walked back down to the chandlery and got a new air filter.  In our engine hole, you have to take the whole housing off rather than just the lid, because there’s not enough room between the air filter and the wall.  By the time I’d tidied up and put everything away, I felt I’d done a day’s work, not least because of having to contort yourself to reach most things!

5 miles, 0 locks.  (6 miles, 0 locks)

Home alone: Day 1

Adrian is spending a few days down south seeing various family and friends; he left about 7 this morning to get on the road.  I have a few boat jobs to do.  This morning, I untied, went along to the winding hole, and came back to exactly the same spot.  It all took about 40 minutes, which also helped put some juice back in the batteries.

After lunch, I walked down to Nantwich Station, as I was seeing someone in Whitchurch for a podcast thing.  There’s a little two-coach train that shuttles back and forth between Crewe and Shrewsbury.

When I was dropped back at the station I had a bit of time before the train was due so went for a look at the old Joyce clock makers building.  It’s now the home of Trevanion Auctioneers.

It was a much nicer train on the way back, and as it didn’t stop at Wrenbury only took 9 minutes.

1 mile, 0 locks.

October Braidbar visit

On Saturday, we moved the car close to the Nantwich embankment so it was ready for today’s trip to Braidbar.  We left about 8.15, and it was about an hour and a quarter’s drive.  There’s a full report on what’s been going on with the build of Kingley Vale on the NBKV blog.

On the way back we stopped at Morrison’s for a top up shop while we had the car with us.  Then we still needed a lot of steps for the day, so we walked along the canal and down to the railway level crossing — and as I still needed more I headed off the other way and explored the footpath across the fields from Bridge 96.

Chester again: Day 13

Adrian’s birthday today, so there were presents and a limited number of cards; now we’re living on board, there’s nowhere to send them to!  It was also very foggy, and hadn’t cleared all day.

We didn’t want to get to Nantwich too early in case people hadn’t left yet, so we set off around 10 into the murk.

In fact there were loads of spaces on the moorings, so we picked a convenient one just over the aqueduct.  We’d booked lunch out, so walked into town, to Nine Mill Street.

The Sunday roasts were excellent, and as I’d put it note on the booking, a little extra turned up at the end.

We walked back through the park and the residential area were explored the other day.

2 miles, 0 locks.  (55 miles, 26 locks)

Chester again: Day 12

Very grey and overcast to start the day.  We set off about 8.45, hoping no-one else would be heading to the water point yet — and indeed no-one appeared to be heading anywhere.  While the tank filled, we got the washing machine going, and I walked down to the chandlery and got a big sack of logs.  When we were done, we plodded along the familiar couple of miles to Hurleston Junction, turned around, and tied up on the moorings just to the south.  The rings are poorly spaced and there’s a Shroppie shelf, but it’s a nice spot.

This afternoon we went for a walk and bumped into the Debdale owners who bought our share 15 years ago.  As they were stationary, we were able to have a chat for the first time.  The sun came out during the afternoon and it’s been pleasantly warm.

2 miles, 0 locks.  (53 miles, 26 locks)

Chester again: Day 11

We were re-tracing our steps from a couple of days ago today, leaving our lovely moorings at Coole Pilate and heading back into Nantwich.  The two locks at Hack Green both needed a top up, but were polished off pretty quickly and we were back on the embankment overlooking the rooftops by mid morning.  Once moored up, I got the bucket out and washed the roof of the boat, a job that badly needed doing.

After lunch we had a walk through part of Nantwich we’ve not been to before, mostly residential, with one or two much older houses.  This turns out to be the only photo I have taken all day.

This afternoon I have made another podcast for release in a fortnight’s time.  One came out today, which even though I do say so myself, I think is quite fascinating.  It looks at the way water is brought down the Llangollen Canal to Hurleston Reservoir, and then becomes drinking water for the people of Crewe and Nantwich.  Have a listen here.

3 miles, 2 locks.  (51 miles, 26 locks)

Chester again: Day 10

We’ve moored up three times today, and ended up exactly where we started.  And I do mean exactly, because we’re on the same rings, just facing the other way.  We were in no rush this morning, and eventually set off bound for Audlem.  We then turned around at the winding hole before the locks and moored in the first available space, before taking a walk up into the village where we mooched around the shops and bought a couple of things.

We set off again on our return, and went just the short distance to the piling through Bridge 80.  We had lunch, then walked over the bridge to the back entrance to OverWater Marina.  We were going there to have a chat with Andy Russell, who’ll be doing our sign writing.  We found him outside the paint shed, where he’s repainting a couple of boats for BCBM, and had a chat about colours and style, shading and scrolls.  To get back, we walked the other way round the marina, which included going over the bridge over the entrance.

The mobile signal is much better at Coole Pilate, and Adrian has an online meeting this evening, so we set off again for another short hop.  Bridge 82 has obviously had plenty of damage over the years, and the repairs show very clearly.

Lots of the boats on these moorings have changed since this morning, but the space we’d left a few hours earlier was still free so we went back into it.  Moored a little further back were the people who were breasted up against us at the Crick Show in May, so we went to have a chat and find out what they’d been doing since then.

4 miles, 0 locks.  (48 miles, 24 locks)

Chester again: Day 9

Adrian had a hair cut booked in Nantwich at 9.30, so headed off for that — while I followed about half an hour later.  We met up and went to Morrison’s for a top up shop.  It meant we didn’t leave our moorings until around 11.  We headed south out of Nantwich, for once going past the winding hole!  It’s a pleasant but unremarkable journey to the two Hack Green Locks, where a boat was just about to emerge from the bottom one.  There were more boats coming down, so we had people waiting to help us at both.

There were loads of boats moored at the Hack Green moorings that we’d had to ourselves a couple of months ago, but our intention was to carry on a little further to Coole Pilate.  There was plenty of room, and we’ve stopped in a very similar place to last time.  Yesterday I’d made some spiced roasted butternut squash soup, so we had that for lunch, then popped out for a walk to get our steps up.  It’s been really quite sunny this afternoon, and fairly warm with it.

3 miles, 2 locks. (44 miles, 24 locks)

Chester again: Day 8

Another quite long day, by our new standards.  We set off about 8.30, with Adrian walking up to set Wharton’s Lock.

The trees are suddenly looking very autumnal, with the leaves changing colour.

There was a boat coming down Beeston Iron Lock, and it didn’t seem so difficult today to get the lock to level as we rose.  As we went up Beeston Stone Lock, a boat arrived at the top so we could leave the gate open.

At Tilstone Lock, there were two more boats to come down, so we had help.  Both were on a one way hire from Nantwich to Anderson, and were doing Chester as a side trip.  They were planning to be in Chester this evening, back to Barbridge tomorrow, and then Anderson on Thursday evening.  It all sounded very rushed to us!  As we approached Bunbury Staircase Locks, there were lots of Anglo Welsh boats in.

As we went up the lock, I popped into the shop and bought a couple of bags of coal.  We stuck them on the roof until we were near the top of the upper lock, when they could be moved into the well deck.  Yet another boat then arrived to go down.  We stopped at the services at Calverley to catch up with washing and top up the tank, and it didn’t take long given that we’d also filled up yesterday.  A boat passed us there, and there were three more going the other way once we set off again.  After that is pass straight past the junctions at Barbridge and Hurleston, and past the entrance to the basin at Nantwich.

Nantwich was very busy, so we ended up round the corner past the aqueduct.  There have been quite a few boats past during the afternoon.

10 miles, 6 locks.  (41 miles, 22 locks)

Chester again: Day 7

Finally a still day, with no wind at all to speak of.  We got away pretty promptly, at 8.15, and were soon passing the lead shot tower.

The first lock, Hoole Lane, has one ground paddle and one gate paddle for some reason, and the gate paddle makes a big jet of water.

The rest of the locks were randomly mostly empty or completely full, with little rhyme or reason as to why.  When we had done all five out of the city we stopped at the Christleton water point, and did the usual filling and washing routine.  Steve from AmyJo came by while we were there, so it was nice to see him and Smudge the dog.  The next section had a lot of floating islands of pennywort.  We again saw the anti-weed boat, but it’s clearly a losing battle.  One bridge hole was completely filled with it, and a bit clump ended up on the bow.  Rather than push it along, I stopped, reversed a bit, and managed to leave it behind.

A kingfisher whizzed along the side of the boat and settled in a bush — and then stayed there as we went past.  He’s there if you look for him.

The long line of moored boats at Golden Nook took 45 minutes to pass.  There are a dozens more, in various states of repair, on the land.

A diesel pump on the back of a tractor was also in action along the moorings, with boats being filled.  It all takes so long, you rather lose the will to live. Y the end of the line — so the name of the final boat seems strangely appropriate.

We’d got another clump of pennywort on the bow, so once the moorings were passed I again manoeuvred to get it off.  The good thing was the sun was now out, and the views of Beeston Castle and Peckforton Castle were great.

The sun still has some warmth in it, too.

We moored just past The Shady.  Later in the afternoon, a familiar but now very shiny boat came past.  What A Lark has been repainted and looks very smart.  We had a quick chat with Lisa and David, and then I grabbed a windlass and walked up to Wharton’s Lock to lend a hand, and have a few more minutes of conversation.

9 miles, 5 locks.  (31 miles, 16 locks)